This invention is directed to multi-vitamin and mineral supplements. In particular, this invention is directed to multi-vitamin and mineral supplements for improving health by insuring adequate intake of micronutrients needed for disease prevention and protection against nutritional losses and deficiencies due to such factors as lifestyle patterns and common inadequate dietary patterns. More particularly, this invention is directed to multi-vitamin and mineral supplements for ameliorating vitamin D deficiency, maintaining good bone health, and preventing colorectal cancer.
Vitamin and mineral preparations are commonly administered to treat specific medical conditions or as general nutritional supplements. Micronutrients are elements or compounds which are present in foods in small or trace amounts and includes vitamins, minerals, or other elements, and compounds found in foods for which a Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) has not yet been determined. The macronutrients consist of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins which supply nutrients and calories. Some elements such as calcium, sodium, potassium, chloride, and phosphorus are consumed in relatively large amounts, while many such as iron, iodine, and zinc are consumed in small amounts. Vitamins, such as B12 and folic acid, and the minerals cooper, selenium, and chromium are consumed in very small or trace amounts. In as much as the human body does not synthesize many compounds which are essential to the human body, these specific vitamins and minerals can be obtained from only two sources: food and supplements. The primary source of all nutrients is food. However, the majority of people do not meet the RDA of the foods containing these essential compounds and elements. Thus, vitamin and mineral supplementation has become a recognized method of meeting accepted medical and health standards.
An international panel of diet and cancer experts announced in London on Sep. 30, 1997, that as many as 30 to 40 percent of all cancer cases worldwide—3 to 4 million a year-could be avoided if people ate a healthy diet and got enough exercise. USA Today, Oct. 1, 1997. However, for some nutrients, the amounts proposed as being healthy apparently cannot be provided by a reasonable quantity and variety of natural foods. Thus, nutrient supplements may be important for health promotion and prevention of chronic diseases. Journal of the American Medical Association, May 7, 1997.
Recent studies have illustrated the important physiological roles played by vitamins and minerals and established a correlation between deficiencies or excesses of these nutrients and the etiologies of certain disease states in humans. Suboptimal levels of a vitamin are defined as those associated with abnormalities of metabolism that can be corrected by supplementation with that vitamin. Studies have shown that there is a high prevalence of suboptimal vitamin levels implies that the usual U.S. diet provides an insufficient amount of these vitamins. For example, although vitamin D is added to milk, many people do not consume enough dairy products to get a sufficient amount of vitamin D.
Vitamin D is an essential precursor of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, the steroid hormone required for bone development and growth in children maintenance of bone in adults, and the prevention of osteoporosis and fractures in the elderly. Studies have found low values of vitamin D in 46 percent of the patients taking multivitamins, many of which contain 400 I.U. of vitamin D, which is the RDA. The New England Journal of Medicine, Mar. 19, 1998. Studies have also shown that an increase in calcium intake of 800 to 1000 mg/d with supplementation of greater than 400 to 800 I.U. of vitamin D daily will decrease the risk of vertebral and nonvertebral fractures and increase bone mineral density. Symposium: Nutritional Advances in Human Bone Metabolism, American Institute of Nutrition, 1996.
In addition, evidence has suggested that vitamin D has potential role in colon cancer prevention. Studies have shown that vitamin D prevents profileration, promotes differentiation, and induces apoptosis of colon cells, and that reduced intake or insufficiency of vitamin D are associated with increased risk of colorectal cancer. Expression of 25-hydroxyvitamin D-1-alpha-hydroxylase mRNA in individuals with colorectal cancer, May 25, 2002; Vitamin D, calcium, and vitamin D receptor polymorphism in colorectal adenomas, Dec. 10, 2001.
There exists a need for a nutritional supplement which supplies the right amount of the right micronutrients at the right time to assure adequate intake of micronutrients, particularly vitamin D, needed for disease prevention and protection against nutritional losses and deficiencies due to lifestyle factors and common inadequate dietary patterns.